By Zephyria 
“Is that the story of your father and mother?”
“Yes.”
“…What does that have to do with my family?”
“She is the daughter of the Chairman of Hosan. She is your father’s younger sister.”
“I’ve never heard anything about having an aunt.”
Of course, it had only been three months since I entered this body, and my knowledge of the family tree came solely from the mouth of my Omega father. But surely, while telling me about Grandfather, the chairman, he couldn’t have omitted the fact that there was an aunt.
“I was told she was locked up at home after giving birth. Some said she lost her mind, and rumors circulated that she had died. Because she never showed her face, strange stories spread, but as time passed, people forgot. Few people now even remember that the chairman of Hosan has a daughter.”
“Last time, when we first met. Didn’t you say she was in the VIP room of our hospital? How do you know about this?”
“If you aren’t interested, it’s natural not to know. But if you look for it, there’s nothing you can’t find.”
If he weren’t interested, he wouldn’t know; which meant that in the end, he had been interested enough to search. I stole a glance at Kwon Yi-kang’s profile as he spoke of his own history with the indifference of someone discussing a stranger.
“Your mother… have you ever met her?”
“No.”
“Not even once?”
“Not once.”
“You must have wanted to.”
So that’s why he looked for her. To see if she was truly dead or alive. If she were alive, where she was and how she was living.
“You must have missed your mother a lot.”
I reached out, cupped the back of Kwon Yi-kang’s head, and pulled him toward me. As he naturally came to lie across my lap, I brushed back his hair and rubbed his exposed cheek with my hand.
“It seems no one knows except Grandfather and Father. Even my Omega father and Hyung looked clueless.”
“Cha Baek-joo is only two years older than me. There’s no way he’d remember things from back then. The first wife died long ago, and your father married ten years later, so he wouldn’t know. Why would they bother bringing up a story they consider a family disgrace?”
“When did you find out?”
“I heard about my mother in high school. Until then, I just vaguely knew I didn’t have a mother. I thought she was someone who had simply never existed for me, but the moment I heard that story, I missed her unbearably, and I hated her unbearably.”
His voice was far too monotonous while describing such complex emotions. My heart ached as I wondered how much pain this man must have endured to be able to speak so calmly in such a voice.
“That’s why I went to see the chairman of Hosan. I begged him to let me see her just once. I was a lunatic for just showing up unannounced. Yes, I really was going crazy back then.”
“You’re his grandson too, and he cut off your bloodline and wouldn’t even show you her face? I know Grandfather’s personality, but he’s truly ruthless.”
“If he were the type to be swayed by an appeal to emotion, he wouldn’t have severed the bond between mother and son in the first place.”
That was true. He was an old man who hadn’t shed a single tear even when the younger one died. His face had been as neat and composed as if he had just gone out for a stroll. To that old man and the Alpha father, the family name and the hospital were more important than blood or children.
“To them, I am neither a blood relative nor the heir to the Hwang Seong Group. I am merely the child of the thug, Kwon Do-gyun.”
“They really are terrible people. People who only give wounds to others.”
I felt sorry for Kwon Yi-kang, who had to live his whole life with a sense of loss, separated from his mother since birth.
Why do those people live their lives inflicting such wounds on others? Is it a problem with that family, or a problem with that bloodline?
Looking down at Kwon Yi-kang, whose face now looked indifferent as if even his resentment and sadness had worn away, I felt sad on his behalf. The kinship I felt toward another victim transformed into a tender affection.
I kissed the cheek I had been softly stroking. I wanted to comfort a man whose sadness had been sublimated to the point where he couldn’t even shed tears. Moving my lips, which I had pressed against him several times, I sucked on his lips.
“You didn’t come here expecting to get approval for the marriage, did you? You came knowing they’d oppose it, right?”
“Yes. That was essentially a declaration of war.”
“Did you know? That I’m the youngest son of Hosan Hospital.”
“…Yes.”
“Since when?”
I didn’t suspect that he had approached me knowing this from the start. Because it truly was a series of coincidences. Therefore, I didn’t hastily doubt or reprimand him.
“About a month ago. When you said you had to kill someone, you seemed sincere. I felt like you’d actually do something if left alone, so I put a tail on you.”
Separate from the affection I felt, and separate from my lack of suspicion, I smacked Kwon Yi-kang on the forehead.
“Is that something to be proud of?”
“If you commit a crime, it has to be cleaned up quickly. I didn’t think you’d tell me everything, nor did I think you’d tell me your plan before killing someone, so I had no choice.”
“You’re a stalker.”
“I told you, it was a preventative measure.”
“Having people follow me, monitoring my every move. That’s a stalker. You bad bastard.”
Kwon Yi-kang couldn’t muster an excuse against the second slap.
“Did you… actually have any intention of marrying? What were you thinking, dragging the situation this far knowing they’d obviously oppose it?”
Even without a formal meeting between the families, anyone doing a bit of research could easily find out which family their child was dating. How long did he intend to hold out? Why create this situation? I became curious about Kwon Yi-kang’s intentions.
At my question, Kwon Yi-kang, who had been lying down, sat up. Pressing close to my side, he turned to look at me.
“I am going to marry you.”
“They’re opposing it.”
“I’ll do it anyway. I won’t let you be taken. I won’t be like my father and lose you while my eyes are open. I’ll bring you to me by any means necessary, and I’ll keep you by my side.”
“Isn’t it just that you want to stir up that household? Don’t you just want to cause a scene by bringing up past memories?”
“As long as… as long as you are by my side, I can forget my mother. She’s someone who was never in my life to begin with. I only need you.”
So please don’t misunderstand, don’t think badly of me. Kwon Yi-kang spoke softly, as if whispering love.
“Just don’t tell me you’re leaving me. You can be angry, you can curse me. You can resent me, but just don’t leave me.”
“Why would I be angry? Why would I curse you? You’re a wounded person too.”
You’re a victim too. What sin could be attributed to a child who had his mother stolen? I only felt pity and sorrow.
“Soo-kyung.”
“It’s okay.”
Seeing his expression, which looked as if he might cry, I cupped his cheek and touched our noses together. He didn’t actually shed tears, but it felt as if he were weeping.
“Even if you had tried to use me to stir up that household, I would have understood. You’re allowed to do that.”
Of course, I wasn’t the real Cha Soo-kyung, and I had absolutely nothing to do with that household. Therefore, even if that had been Kwon Yi-kang’s intention, it wouldn’t have mattered to me. No matter what happened to that family, I wouldn’t care—no, in fact, it would have been more satisfying.
Moreover, considering what Kwon Yi-kang had suffered, it would have been entirely understandable if he had come with a knife to kill them. Who could compensate for the absence of a mother separated since birth? I, too, had tried to kill the younger one to get the price of my parents’ lives.
“That’s not it.”
Kwon Yi-kang grabbed my wrist that was cupping his cheek and pulled it down, responding in a firm voice.
“That’s not it. You have nothing to do with that. You are simply my Omega. Any emotion related to my mother or that family has nothing to do with you.”
“Right.”
“Soo-kyung. …Do you trust me?”
Who trusts whom in this harsh world? Does a world where trust exists even exist? There are plenty of people who stab you in the back with a smiling face and wound others’ hearts with a polite expression. Since both you and I are wounded people, who could possibly trust whom so naively?
“Soo-kyung. Please… do you trust me?”
The trembling voice contained the man’s sincerity. The gaze looking straight at me, the deep eyes, the tightly closed lips, the trembling voice, the hand gripping me with effort. Everything was telling me he was sincere, and I decided to go along with it, whether it was true sincerity or a packaged version of it.
“Yeah.”
With that one word, Kwon Yi-kang smiled as if he had gained the whole world. A low sigh dampened my forehead, and the grip of his hand, which had been loose as if to let go at any moment, tightened.
“My Omega. No one will be able to take you away. You will stay by my side.”
“But… aren’t we cousins?”
I didn’t want to take away Kwon Yi-kang’s joy, but there was one thing that bothered me. Since I wasn’t the original Cha Soo-kyung, I didn’t feel any aversion to being cousins; it was simply a question of whether marriage between cousins was permitted.
“They’ll probably regret a little that they didn’t put me on the family register. There’s no legal reason why I can’t marry you.”
“Setting law aside, do you really feel nothing about the fact that we’re cousins?”
“You were my Omega even before I knew that. I won’t lose you for any reason.”
With a tight grip and a determined expression, he revealed his heart. That he would not let anyone take me and would not send me anywhere. I didn’t know where Kwon Yi-kang’s obsession started, but I could feel desperately that he wanted to possess me.
“Try your best. So you don’t lose me like your father did.”
“You won’t leave me, right?”
He could be infinitely mature, yet at other times, he would cling to me with a face that craved me like a child. I didn’t know how he was with other people, but I didn’t dislike this gap he showed me.
Because it felt like I could see Kwon Yi-kang’s heart—that I was precious, that he needed me, and that he wanted me. Because he had a face that said he truly needed someone who was nothing. Every time I saw that face, I felt a strange sense of fulfillment.
“Tell me if it gets hard. I’ll run wild with you.”
“You don’t have to do anything. I won’t ruin things like my father did. I will give my child both parents.”
He’s already thinking about children that don’t even exist. A laugh escaped me, out of place for the atmosphere.
* * *
“You run away from home often, don’t you?”
While I was standing blankly in front of a painting that I couldn’t tell what it was supposed to be, my Omega father, who had come after being contacted, approached and spoke.
“That’s usually how it goes when you date someone the family opposes. I’ve seen it often. Kids who run away from home, blinded by love.”
Those kinds of kids always end up badly. Even if it’s not for love, things inevitably get worse when you leave home. Because you have no money. It was a relief that Kwon Yi-kang at least had a house. There’s nothing more expensive or difficult than solving the problem of food and shelter.
“You’re the one doing that right now.”
“One should try everything others do at least once in their life.”
At my defiant retort, Father let out a hollow laugh.
“Did you hear why they oppose it?”
“They just said they are adamantly opposed, without further explanation.”
Even though they were my parents, this couple was difficult to understand.
They said they remarried, so they are a married couple, yet they don’t share family matters, and the one who isn’t told doesn’t even wonder. What kind of relationship is that?
“Father, you really don’t know anything. You’ve lived for twenty years; were you never curious?”
“I have no desire to know or understand this family. I only wish for you to grow up quickly, age, get married, and receive what was promised. That is the purpose that has sustained me until now.”
The most difficult and mysterious person in our family would be my Omega father. Most of what he said was hard to understand, and even when I asked, he almost never gave a satisfying answer. It wasn’t like some riddle, yet he always harbored his own secrets.
“What is this ‘promised’ thing I’m supposed to receive? Are you giving me a piece of the estate?”
“You will find out when the time comes.”
Right, until then, he’ll keep his mouth shut even if it kills me and make me burst with frustration. It was better for my mental health not to be curious in the first place.
“Have you ever heard that the Alpha father has a younger sister?”
“I’ve neither heard of her nor seen her.”
“Somehow, Father, you’re even more stifling than I am.”
“How rude.”
“To look for manners now, when I’ve been like this for more than a day or two.”
Why is he suddenly looking for manners? I shrugged and moved toward the next painting.
“In twenty years, have you really never seen her once? If she wasn’t in our house, she would have lived with Grandfather.”
“If that were the case, I would have suffered through my sister-in-law’s domestic struggles too. Your father never mentioned such a thing. Where did you hear this?”
“I just heard a bit.”
“Was there a reason you had to ask at this specific timing? I thought you’d be worrying about your marriage.”
Since he doesn’t know the reason why they oppose my marriage to Kwon Yi-kang, he probably thinks it’s a random question. In reality, there is no question more important or relevant than this.
“What is there to worry about? I’ve introduced him, so now we just get married.”
“Do you think your father will permit it?”
“Is there anything to permit or not? I’m the one getting married. It’s not like I can’t marry without parents’ permission. If it really doesn’t work, we can just file the marriage registration. Ah, but he won’t be able to recover the wedding gift money, so that’s a bit of a shame.”
I heard that wedding gifts and condolence money are a form of mutual aid. The hospital director and museum director wouldn’t have given thirty or fifty thousand won as wedding gifts. The units would be high and they would have visited many places, so it is a shame not to harvest that, but since it’s not my money anyway, I didn’t care much.
“Just file the registration? I oppose that as well.”
“And if I say I’ll have a wedding, will you permit it?”
“Even if we can’t do it on a grand scale, it should be done enough for others to know. You are a proper heir to Hosan Hospital and this museum.”
“I’m not the heir to Hosan Hospital.”
“One never knows how things will turn out.”
I think I’ve seen an unexpected side of my Omega father. Did he set his sights on the position of Hosan Hospital’s heir? But isn’t the presence of the eldest brother too great for that? With the younger one dead, the eldest brother’s position was far too solid.
“Don’t waste your energy eyeing things that aren’t yours.”
“It’s not as if there’s a name tag on it.”
“Even without a name tag, it’s obvious who it’ll go to.”
“Sometimes, things happen that aren’t obvious. That’s why life isn’t boring.”
He’s making strange noises that I can’t follow again. Since a man who lived with an excessive lack of ambition and greed was saying this, I couldn’t tell if it was a joke or serious.
“Well, I’ll think about the wedding. I have to go back and tell Kwon Yi-kang’s father that we’re marrying, and I don’t think that man will quietly permit it either. I don’t know if we’ll actually have a wedding, but I’ll try to do it if possible.”
Above all, money is the most important thing. If you have money, you do it; if you don’t, you can’t. Even if I have money now, I can’t spend it recklessly because I have to worry about living in the future. It would have been better if the marriage talk had come up a year later. Then I could have collected some gold bars and wouldn’t have worried about making a living.
“There certainly seems to be a problem between the families.”
“It seems so. By the way, is your health better?”
“Health?”
“When Kwon Yi-kang came to greet you, you left your seat because you weren’t feeling well.”
At my point, Father let out a short, “Ah.”
“Both the sister-in-law and Father. I knew he came to greet you in a hurry, but I didn’t know you’d give him such a cold shoulder.”
As I spoke with a hint of dissatisfaction, Father stared at me intently.
“Are you really okay?”
“Why would I not be?”
“If by any chance you’re trying to marry because he’s the heir to the Hwang Seong Group…”
“I told you, I only found that out that day. In the first place, marrying him doesn’t mean I’m giving away the Hwang Seong Group, so what does it matter if he’s the heir to the Hwang Seong Group or the son of a neighborhood corner store?”
“But why of all people…”
As if the words were stuck in his throat, Father stopped speaking and only wore a sorrowful expression, which was frustrating.
Why of all people? Why of all what? Why of all people Kwon Yi-kang? Where else is there someone as handsome, kind, good in bed, and caring toward me as him? Is there anyone who could even come close to his toenails? Could there be a word less fitting for Kwon Yi-kang than ‘of all people’?
“Goodness, this is frustrating. Just speak plainly. What about Kwon Yi-kang?”
“Do you really not feel it? That pheromone. That pheromone that was violent and sharp, as if it were choking your breath. So fishy and thick that it broke down all senses…”
Just recalling it seemed taxing, as Father’s face grew gradually pale. While steadying his shaking, frail body, I had to try to understand what Father was talking about.
“Kwon Yi-kang’s pheromones? What’s strange about them?”
“You really… I was worried since you couldn’t feel pheromones, but I didn’t know there would be a problem like this.”
“I don’t think so. I’ve been feeling better lately. I’ve sensed Kwon Yi-kang’s pheromones since the first time we met, and these days, I can smell other people’s pheromones if they’re close by. You keep treating me like some kind of cripple.”
Although I wasn’t completely back to normal, I told him I was gradually improving, yet the distrust remained etched on Father’s face.
“I’ve heard that there are some people whose pheromones are exceptionally strong. I had never encountered one in person, so I didn’t imagine it would be to this extent.”
“To me, he just smells sweet. So sweet that… I get aroused when I’m near him.”
I thought it was inappropriate to mention being sexually aroused in front of my parents, but there were no words to express it more accurately.
“Whether it’s sweet or sour, I don’t know, but the fact is that it’s so excessive that it causes other people to feel a sense of repulsion. I wonder if there is any Omega who could withstand those pheromones. Weren’t you barely able to breathe, crushed by them and desperate to get away?”
Come to think of it, my sister-in-law’s face had turned pale as she trembled and left the room, and even my Omega father, who tried his best to endure it, couldn’t win and fled as if escaping. I realized belatedly that it wasn’t an act to insult Kwon Yi-kang, but I still couldn’t understand what exactly was wrong with his pheromones.
“Are his pheromones really that strange?”
“It’s not that they’re strange, but that they’re too excessive. His baseline levels are just high. Or rather, should I say the concentration is too thick? You know how it is—when a stimulus is too intense, it becomes painful. When a certain taste becomes too strong, it leaves only a pungent pain to the point where you can’t taste the original flavor…”
“I was fine with it.”
The gaze looking at me was a mix of grief and pity. I don’t know why he’s looking at me with such pity when I’m saying I like it.
“For that reason, Omegas cannot endure it, and Alphas don’t appreciate it either. For fellow Alphas, it’s like a power struggle; who would like being crushed by pheromones from the start?”
“Ah, so that’s why my eldest brother had such a ‘ate-a-piece-of-shit’ expression on his face.”
“Let’s use more sophisticated expressions.”
Ignoring the taste of my Omega father, who preferred high-level vocabulary even in a situation like this, I gave a listless shrug.
So that’s why all of Kwon Yi-kang’s blind date candidates were Betas. With this belated realization, I was able to fill in the gaps of the stories I hadn’t understood until now.
「There was no one who liked me. No, there were some… but I wasn’t attracted to the people who liked me. It wasn’t a major reason.」
Aside from the pheromones, he had a handsome face, polished manners, and a good family background—there was nothing lacking. Thus, he must have been an attractive prey for Betas. However, as an Alpha, Kwon Yi-kang probably wasn’t attracted to the Betas who threw themselves at him.
「But I can’t exactly drag an Omega who says they hate me along, can I? Should I go kidnap one? I’ll do it if you want.」
Because of Kwon Yi-kang’s thick pheromones, no Omega wanted him, and in a situation where only Betas clung to him, I appeared. Recalling Kwon Yi-kang’s skeptical expression when we first met, I now understood why he couldn’t believe me when I said he smelled sweet and kept asking as if to confirm it.